Welcome to this, the first Triple Click Home extra! Join Doug Langley of speed dots, Raquel Gomez, and our own very excited Hope Povenmire as they visit the apple store and check out the apple watch. Although they find that the demo units are not equipped with voiceover, they are able to provide a description of the watch, its “haptic feedback”, and the available accessories. You will hear the feedback in the form of little pulsing noises, as it twitches near the microphones used to record this adventure. So put on some headphones and join them!

Team App Picks

Do you need to get somewhere, but you’re not near public transit, or you’re in an unknown city and you don’t know where the nearest cab might be? Or as Joshua pointed out, you could have a date night with someone special and all this with Uber.
Is reading a hobby, especially audio books? Audible is great, but what about all that physical media? John has found an answer, and it’s right in the Mac app store. It’s Audio Book Builder.
Do you want a distraction? Do you want to exercise your brain and see just how brilliant you are, and show that brilliance to your friends? Hope recommends Trivia Crack.

Closing Credits

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

In this episode of Triple Click Home, even though it is going through a mid life crisis, get to know our new team and why iCloud is useful for showing that criminals and cows get smarter every day. Or do they?

stories

Is Apple really declining in accessibility? In this opinion piece the hosts share their opinions about this very question.

why is it that iPhones are linked to a higher income but yet the 70% of unemployed blind need them for accessibility? An interesting study shows statistics of iPhone useage, wherein Montana happens to be in the lead.

How do you think Home Kit will effect your life? The team discusses Home Kit’s integration and just a few possibilities in which it could be useful.

50% of smart phone activations were iPhones, in q4 alone. An article from MacTrast explains this in further detail.

iPad thieves accidentally send their faces and names to victim’s iCloud. And to quote Mr. Harvey ‘here’s the rest of the story

Who would have thought, even as little as 5 years ago that one could buy a Coke and a Snickers from a vending machine, with just an iPhone? Looks like science fiction is now becoming fact

Closing Credits

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Thanks to Audible for generously supporting the SeroTalk Podcast Network. As part of this promotion, you are welcomed to a free audiobook of your choice at AudiblePodcast.com/SeroTalk.
Thanks for listening!

The Triple-click Home team is back with another podcast full of talk about iOS, Yosemite and more. Jamie Pauls takes the host’s chair this time around, and Lisa Salinger drops by to talk about using Widgets in iOS 8. All that plus your feedback can be heard on Episode 34. Stories covered this month include:

The entire Triple-click Home team is back for this month’s podcast. Jamie and Derek join the team to discuss the recent Apple event announcing new iPhones plus the unveiling of Apple Watch. Discussion next turns to the good, the bad and the undecided with regard to iOS 8. Also included are some AppleVis links not discussed in the podcast.

Mailbag

Oh can I relate to Buddy’s Pro Tip for those of us who find ourselves straddling both worlds.

My work laptop is a Windows machine and it’s good for what it does, sort of, but I’m really enjoying most of my leisure and home chores on my MacBook Pro.

Nope, those Mac commands do not work in Windows and sometimes they do very bad things to your work. I recently went all the way to getting a trouble ticket written for a problem I was having. When I talked to the tech at the outside support service, he asked me for exact steps. I told him and he laughed, in that way you know you’re not supposed to do but …

“Ma’am, that’s a Mac command. Do you use a Mac at home?”

“Uh, yeah, I do. thanks. I’m going to just dig a big ole hole now.”

And yes, Alena, I was taught way back when to start with any new program by exploring the menu system. See what it offers and how to do those things. It’s held me in good stead for many years, many more than I care to think about.

And Buddy, evil as you are, I’m with ya in the playing pranks on the computer teacher. Of course we’d just gotten the IBM Selectric typewriters when I was in high school and the Trash 80 computers didn’t come out until a couple years later. I had my fun at work.

We set up the old DOS machines we had so that the screen came up with a red background and red letters. Then I did a whole demo on some aspect of accessibility. Then I got called into my boss’s office to hear how that wasn’t funny. Made my point though.

Oh and you could indeed set up some key commands, like hot keys, outside of the screen reader, for Windows and more for DOS. Could I remember how to do it now? No, but I had a couple cool ones back in the day.

Blog comment from Jesse

There seems to be a lot of wining about a larger iPhone screen in recent episodes. True, some people don’t want larger screens and that’s fine. But there are many blind and low vision users, low vision users especially, who are really looking forward to a larger iPhone, myself included. I have looked at several Android phones with larger screens, and would love to have an iPhone with these types of screens.

Simply getting an iPad Mini isn’t a good solution either, for a couple of reasons. first, as a low vision user, I use the camera in my phone all the time. The camera in all iPad models isn’t as good, and for some reason, Apple has yet to add a camera flash, making many camera apps on the iPads rather pointless. I use my phone as a portable CCTV all the time and absolutely love it. A little larger screen would be very helpful, and when combined with a more open camera for developers, will make the iPhone even more comparable to dedicated handheld CCTV’s.

Also, I use data everywhere on my phone, and don’t intend to pay for an expanded data plan to have data on my iPad. I’m fine with a Wi-Fi only iPad for now.

These are just my thoughts though. I say, “Bring on the bigger phone.”

Otherwise, I love the podcast, and keep up the great work.

From Beth

Hi, I was introduced to the slate and stylus in mid elementary school but I tended toward wrist rolling and hand pain when using it and, since I was adept at the Perkins Brailler, I did not persevere with the slate and haven’t since, with no desire to. I have no need to write stuff down when I’m out and I use the Perkins and the PC at home. I was fortunate to have parents and teachers who took my individual needs into account. I wonder about the wisdom of teaching screen readers at a very young age. Computers and phones are more intuitive if you have vision, since direct action can be done with the mouse or touch screen.
Screen readers place a bridge of gestures and/or keyboard commands between the user and the device. Yes, very young kids’ brains are pliable and can soak up knowledge well but should so much info be thrown at such a young brain? Also, who will have or take the time to teach a very young child a screen reader? Most kids now are in homes where both parents work and, in general, parents do not have the time, energy or enthusiasm to learn a screen reader themselves, let alone teach it. We don’t have the resources to have that many teachers of the visually impaired to teach that many kids. Beth

The Triple-click Home team has been super busy this summer, so we decided to give them a bit of a vacation–well, most of them, anyway. Jamie and Buddy decided to change up the podcast a bit this month, and the rest of the gang agreed.

This time around, Jamie Pauls takes a few minutes to demonstrate our shiny new version of iBlink Radio for the Mac.

Lisa shows us how to use Fantastical 2, a calendar for iOS that meets her specific needs in a way that the native calendar does not.

Finally, Jamie interviews the developers of Crossly, a crossword puzzle game for iOS that many in the blind community are enjoying.

Next time around, the team hopes to be able to talk about all the cool stuff Apple plans to release this year. That should make for a full show, indeed and we will include your feedback as well. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

Closing Credits

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Welcome to a jam packed episode of the Triple-click Home Podcast. John Panarese was unable to join the team this time around for exciting and mysterious reasons of which we cannot yet speak, so Jamie joined Alena and Buddy for this week’s show. From the top of the news to the unveiling of a new reference book for Voiceover users of the Mac, there is a lot to love about this month’s offering. Add in a dash of lively discussion surrounding your feedback, and we have quite a show for you this time around. Enough with the introductions. Let’s jump right to the …

Interview

This month, Jamie interviews Janet Ingber about her new book Learning to Use the Mac with Voiceover. This is an extremely valuable resource for anyone who is new to the Mac as well as those who simply want a good reference book at their fingertips, and who doesn’t need that from time to time. Our thanks to Janet for sharing her time with us this month.

Team Picks

This time around, Jamie recommends weather radio, discussed earlier in the podcast. There appears to be a dirth of new apps in the Brannan household, but not to worry as Alena comes to the rescue with the following recommendations

Welcome to the aftermath of Apple’s WWDC keynote address, otherwise known as Triple-click Home Episode 30. This month, the team pokes a bit of fun at some Twitter feedback while discussing the rather momentous news from this year’s WWDC event.

Mailbag

From Pam Francis:

Hello folks, Thank you for another quite informative addition of triple click home. I agree with your assessment of the entitlement mentality. I think it truly begins at home when a blind person is young and attempting to integrate with the family. If the family is ignorant of whatever resources they can access to help their blind family member, it’s easier to wait on them, do for them, make them feel entitled, ultimately giving them a pass at life. I know from personal experience how once family can make one feel like a sore thumb, sticking out with and family activities, children’s games etc. by the grace of the living God, I had an advocate from the time I was in preschool through early adulthood. She was my preschool teacher in a blind preschool here in Kansas City. Her advocacy along with my extroverted personality helped me escape the shelter of my family and grow into myself. I think it is also imperative for anyone with any kind of a disability to develop networking skills within their community. As for the division between the blind organizations, I think it has done more harm than good. We all have a common goal as all of you stressed on your Podcast. I understand there are different ways to get there, however there’s no reason for all of the backbiting between the various organizations and their splinter groups. That in itself helps to create the negative image we, who are functioning members of society have to live down. I don’t belong to either group. I don’t feel better than anyone, yet I don’t want to deal with all of the infighting that comes with group membership. I have done things and Been places within my life that the majority of my family members dream about. I’m not afraid to go anywhere. I also heard you make mention of looking at restaurant menus. Not sure if you’re familiar with the allmenus app. I’m enclosing a link to the app within the body of this email. It is completely accessible. The link I have is to the iOS app. I don’t know if It is available on android. In closing, I hope in this era of technology the division between the blind organizations and blind people in general has been mitigated by the use of technology and the need to learn. Thanks again, keep up the good work. Sincerely, Pam francis

Thanks Lisa for verifying my thought about the new Fleksy. I kept thinking the keyboard was smaller and I actually like it now that I got that idea into my head and am using it as such rather than the old way. I still want an easier way to do numbers and symbols but I’ll use the VO app if I really want that. Nice that both still work.

As for us as a community, the divide as I see it is those who want to be just people who happen to not do things visually versus those who want to be considered special because of that fact. These divides are present within both national groups of blind people so it’s not an ACB versus NFB thing so much as a focus on what you can do versus what you can’t.

I just see so much of the attitude that “We can’t because we are blind and we need this or that special thing, service or price break.” versus “OK, if you could add this, I’d have an even better experience with your product or service than I already do.”

Now if we can get Fleksy into Status Report I’ll be a very happy camper.

Jenine Stanley

Another from Jenine:

Not to be a curmudgeon about this one but though the UK has more audio description, is it as good? Is some info, even when grossly incorrect, better than no info?

OK, I’ll admit to being a spoiled purist when it comes to audio description. I cut my teeth on the proliferation of live audio description done by really quality describers that has been available in Columbus, Ohio since the ’80’s. Wow, looking back, that’s a long time.

The height of this experience was seeing Titanic described live. Sorry James Cameron and Angie Dickenson, our live describer had you both beat hands down.

So I do enjoy grabbing TV series and such from places like Blind Mice Mart but recently I was very frustrated with my experiences with one.

I am a giant Game of Thrones fan and actually read all of the books before gobbling up the TV series. I know the plot, the characters, all that good stuff and there are a ton of characters in this story. I recommended the HBO series to a friend in part because of the stunning audio that comes with HBO production. Great but she was so confused by the audio description getting the names wrong or giving minimal or sometimes incorrect descriptions of things that she gave up or had me translate.

That got me wondering about other shows with such description. I gave up on Downton Abbey in part because the description frustrated me.

To help remake accessibility training as we know it, visit http://www.a11y.tv to view training subscription options and make your contribution to EZFire’s A11YTV funding campaign.

Welcome to the post-April-Fools, pre-WWDC edition of the Triple-click Home Podcast. This month, Jamie Pauls takes the host’s chair and Lisa Salinger fills in for an ailing Buddy Brannan. Their discussion of the top news stories of the month includes many twists and turns this time around, so sit back and enjoy the ride.

Spotlight: Spring Cleaning

Spring is in the air! It’s the time of year when we throw open the windows and throw out everything we’ve collected over the past year and decide we no longer need. Why not do the same with the apps on our i-devices?

Jamie Pauls demonstrates a neat little app for tuning his guitar. He invites listeners to suggest similar apps that they find useful.

Mailbag

From Greg:

Hello all,

You guys have really out done yourselves this year. I nearly fell off my couch when I started listening to That Android Show and Triple Click Home. These are really some of the best shows you guys and gals have done. Keep up the good work.

Thanks,

Greg Wocher(Your friendly neighborhood BlindMan)

From Tony:

What a great job on episode28, lots of voices, snappy pace, and what made the episode for me were the drop INS. The app demonstrations are a great addition, and the app developer interview was so relevant. My hope is that this is the trend.

All the best,

Tony

Another from Tony:

Would you please consider discussing what closing an app really means? For instance, why is it that when I close Pandora, TuneIn, Hourly News, and other audio apps, once closed through the App Switcher, if I do a double finger double tap, audio resumes. Are the apps closed or just resting? Are they eating up battery life? Why bother closing them? If they have a stop button, isn’t that as effective as closing them? Doesn’t seem so. The only way I find to really put them to sleep is by turning off my phone. What’s up with that?

Thanks,

Tony

From Jenine:

Very nice guest hosts of TCH this time and love the app demos from Steve and Ana. Those are a fun addition and I grabbed Google Search which I wasn’t using and learned more about Google Maps which I was using but not lately.